This invention relates generally to couplings, and more specifically to methods and apparatus for machining a coupling.
Components manufactured for turbine engines may have tight tolerances and/or rigid specifications that must be satisfied for the components to function properly with other turbine engine systems. For example, rotating components within the engine may be coupled with multi-piece couplings that are rotatably mated together. Because the components are mated together, manufacturing the components within the rigid tolerances may be essential to the performance of the component.
As such, manufacturing such components may be a time-consuming and laborious task. To facilitate streamlining the manufacturing process of such components, at least some known processes used a single-purpose machine that facilitates processing each component in a single-piece flow. However, such processes require frequent process setup changes to accommodate different component configurations based on the demand for each product. Specifically, known single-purpose machines include one fixture and one grinding wheel that must be manually removed and replaced each time a different component configuration is required. In addition, to facilitate reducing process variation, each time grinding wheel and/or fixture is interchanged, manual machine adjustments must typically be made prior to commencing production.